https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8899687-181/santa-rosa-council-considers-requirement
Santa Rosa council considers requirement
for new homes to be independent of natural
gas
Santa Rosa may soon require that new homes be equipped to operate without natural gas,
a shift city leaders hope could cut carbon emissions and lend momentum to greenbuilding
designs gaining favor after last year’s destructive wildres.
The City Council late last month directed sta
members to research and draft an “allelectric-ready”
ordinance that would require new construction to be wired so homes could
do without natural gas service. Going all-electric would be up to individual property
owners.
The proposed ordinance would not ban the use of natural gas infrastructure in homes, but
new development subject to the rules would be able to do without natural gas from the
outset, according to city sta.
Already, the electricity delivered to California homes and businesses is cleaner than most
other states, a factor the tiny share of coal-derived power and heavy reliance on
hydropower in Northern California, as well renewable and nuclear power.
But converting to all-electric buildings remains “the best way to go with regard to
greenhouse gases to prevent climate damage,” Santa Rosa Councilwoman Julie Combs said
in an interview.
Requiring homes to be pre-wired for all-electric potential would be the most sensible way
to start, said Combs. “Eventually, we’re going to be want to be all-electric wherever we
can.”
WILL SCHMITT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | November 10, 2018
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No California city has adopted an all-electric standard, according to the city. Its report
noted that Healdsburg and Novato are among eight California local governments that have
adopted more stringent building codes designed to boost energy eciency.
The Marin
County Board of Supervisors in March approved building codes designed to encourage allelectric
construction, and since January 2017 Palo Alto has granted exemptions to local
energy eciency
requirements to homes that are designed and built to be all-electric.
Santa Rosa sta
are still in the early stages of drafting the all-electric-ready ordinance, said
David Guhin, director of the planning and economic development. He echoed Combs on
the target of the proposal. “For now, we’ll probably be focused on residential,” he said.
The shift could carry safety advantages for future homes, including those being rebuilt in
re
zones.
A regional program started after last year’s infernos— and supported by PG&E, the
dominant supplier of natural gas — aims to bolster the transition.
The Advanced Energy Rebuild program, a collaboration between PG&E, Sonoma Clean
Power and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, oers
an all-electric-ready option
to contractors working on the region’s housing recovery.
Sonoma Clean Power has received 37 all-electric-ready applications under the program.
The applicant pool includes 36 single-family projects and a 96-unit multi-family
development. Eleven of those projects are slated to be all-electric.
The all-electric home construction holds the promise of a “phenomenal change” — roughly
80 percent fewer carbon emissions over two decades, according to a presentation by
Rachel Kuykendall, program manager for Sonoma Clean Power, the public electricity
supplier.
Homeowners in Sonoma and Mendocino counties eligible for the joint rebuilding program
could receive $12,500 as an incentive if they choose to go the all-electric route. Incentives
of $6,250 per unit are available for rebuilding projects of secondary units or multi-family
housing destroyed in last year’s res,
with additional $5,000 renewable energy bonuses.
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The extra cost of going all-electric in housing isn’t entirely clear. City sta
will continue to
evaluate and research cost estimates, said Guhin, the planning and economic
development director.
A study prepared for PG&E that evaluated the cost of all-electric construction in three
building climate zones, including Santa Rosa’s, pegged the additional cost of building an
all-electric single-family home at about $10,000.
However, the study included in its model the cost of installing a 2.5-kilowatt solar array, as
well as additional insulation and other energy-saving measures. Simply pre-wiring homes
to be all-electric in the future would cost much less, according to Andy Ferguson, a retired
equipment technician and a member of a citizens’ group focused on getting Santa Rosa to
align with state emissions goals.
Ferguson said $250 or less was all it would take to install four dedicated electric circuits for
cooking food, drying clothes and heating water and space, which by his estimation would
make a home all-electric-ready.
“What we’re calling for does not preclude people going ahead and putting in natural gas”
or require them to install a solar array, Ferguson said. “The sole purpose of what we’re
calling for is to give consumers a choice, which would really be the standard going forward
… to allow them to electrify if they wanted to.”
The proposal comes after a review by local transportation and climate change ocials
of
municipal carbon emissions in Sonoma County over time. The study projected that the
county’s total carbon emissions would rise more than 40 percent by 2050 under a
“business as usual” forecast. Santa Rosa’s emissions would double under the same model.
After transportation, which accounted for about 60 percent of carbon emissions, energy
use for buildings makes up nearly a quarter of Sonoma County’s carbon footprint.
Combs, speaking at an Oct. 23 council session, spoke urgently about advancing the allelectric-ready
ordinance for new Santa Rosa buildings.
“We should go with that as quickly as possible,” she said
